Ranko, Master of the Clow
by Mudcat
Summary: Ranma 12 Cardcaptor Sakura Sailor Moon Ranma opens a magically sealed book, but not of his own free will. Now he is a magic girl and can't change back until he fully completes the contract. Shoujoai content warning. Updating soon, need profreaders.
1. Prologe

Cardcaptor Ranko

disclaimer

The list of things that I don't own in this story could quite possibly be made into a book the size of 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' series (and if you haven't read _that_ than you really missed out on a great read). I am not only not making any money off of this, and I'm actually more penniless than Ford Prefect, a depressing thought really.

What I do own is the story, which is (hopefully) better than Volgon poetry.

Special thanks to Campin' Carl for the spelling corrections, you're a lifesaver. And dude, just relax and try some decaf.

Prologue

Very few people would be glad that their wedding had been a total disaster, as a matter of fact normal people would be just a little upset about such a thing. But since Ranma did not really have a clear idea about what 'normal' was that precisely what Ranma was feeling. The one thing he really regretted was that he lost the cure for his curse that day three months ago, but since his curse was not totally unbearable it was no big loss really.

But for everything lost there is at least one thing gained, in the case of his wedding day fiasco there were several gains in fact. The first of which was that Shampoo's claim on him was rescinded. This was due to the fact that her claim had expired rather than any personal wish. The second was that Ukyu rescinded her claim, too. This _was_ personal since she had been harboring a secret crush on Shampoo.

The third was that the Kuno family was finally committed to Tokyo General psyche ward. The only bad thing about this, in Ranma's opinion, was that Tokyo General was not far enough away and he was lamenting the fact that there was not a psyche ward on the far side of Pluto yet to which they could be committed.

But you can't win them all.

The fourth, most important, greatest gain was that Ranma and Akane's engagement was temporarily cancelled by Nodoka. She had taken control of the family pledge, mostly to give them some breathing room. Without the continuous strain of the engagement from their two fathers they began to actually build a working friendship.

All in all it seems rather obvious why Ranma would be so happy that he even began to give Akane some proper formal training. Here is where he was even happier because Akane was now improving in leaps and bounds. But Ranma, knowing the importance of variety over both quality and quantity, started a 'martial arts study group' involving Ukoyu and Shampoo.

This, too, had some feedback. Such as the budding couple putting Akane through 'culinary training hell', and the girls putting Ranma through 'remedial academia' and courses of 'how to be a girl when you are a girl'. The results of these were too many to really list out unless you happen to have a handy warehouse full of paper. However most of the results were positive.

Three months was a long time, during which you could only go so far over the same material over and over. Especially when it involved the martial arts, so it fell onto Ranma to find new material.

Just how he was selected and talked into it was a complete mystery. In other words, the girls used the dread 'puppy dog eyes' technique. It was a devastatingly devious feminine technique against which males have no defense. Luckily for him there were no shortages of martial arts knowledge in Nerima, as a matter of fact there lived in the Tendo house an ancient master who'd very likely have such information lying about in his room.

The plan, while overly simple, was actually quite sound. It involved Ranma approaching Haposai as a girl. After making the appropriate change in gender she got into a nursemaid's outfit. It was a mostly sea green outfit, the cut of which was just a little more than 'daring'. Thankfully Nabiki was not present or she would be doing another photo shoot. It was, in fact, a day when everyone in the house was out for one thing or another.

Ranma opened the door slowly, but luck was with her today for the old dried up fossil was elsewhere. He wasn't going to be gone for long so Ranma dashed inside and grabbed any tome that was not entangled by Haposai's extensive undergarment collection and ran to her own room as quick as was possible.

The mission was accomplished and it was high time to shed the disguise. But first she wanted to feast her curiosity on these tomes she managed the swipe, besides she rather liked this outfit. She had only managed to get five tomes, but they certainly looked promising. She chose one randomly, a book that was heavy and printed in flaking golden Japanese script that read as follows: Ki Manipulation Techniques of the Silver Millennium.

She didn't know what the silver millennium was, but she felt that she hit the jackpot with the excessively thick book. The next was a rather small book that turned out to not a book at all but a small calculator-looking device that had roman lettering on it that read, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't Panic. Unfortunately she couldn't read English very well and neither could her friends, so it was not of much use any way. The next two turned out to be cunningly disguised Playboys, the contents of which caused the girl to get a nosebleed.

The fifth was a leather-bound book with a simple title, Clow. Beneath the title was a design the likes of which that Ranma never seen before. It was, however similar to a Shinto spirit seal. Underneath normal conditions she wouldn't get anywhere near anything that was sealed but the seal began to glow and she felt control over her body slip away.

She began to sweat as she tried to resist the spell's control over her, but Ranma's Herculean efforts were in vain.

Her body wouldn't listen to her and Ranma just knew that something bad was going to happen. And then she opened the book and she was bombarded with a blinding light. Inside the book was a compartment cut into it with a deck of large cards that looked suspiciously like Tarot cards. It was from behind these cards that the light was coming from.

Than the cards flew out of the book and began to orbit around her before streaking away faster than the eye could follow. Ranma just stood there for a moment before laughing nervously, "Well, that certainly went better than expected."

Upon inspecting the book more closely she found that not all the cards had vanished, that one had remained. On the face of the card was a teddy bear creature with small wings and long tail, beneath it was the word 'Kero'. She grasped this remaining card and it began to glow.

Ranma dropped both the book and the card, however only the book hit the floor. The card levitated and continued to glow as something began to emerge from it. It turned out to be the strange creature from the card. As shocked as Ranma was she probably would have found the tiny creature just a little more impressive if it wasn't yawning.

"Ano.."

"Ohayo Gozimasu."

"Er.. Ohayo."

"Do you know what year it is?" the creature asked. Ranma scratched the back of her head, she certainly wasn't expecting anything like this. "It is 2005."

"Nani? You mean I've been asleep for three thousand years?"

"If you say so… uh, if you don't mind me asking just what are you?"

"Ah! My name is Kero, the mighty protector of the seal…" and then he seemed to realize that something was very much wrong, which of course there was. "You broke the seal, didn't you?"

"About that…"

"You broke the seal, what could you have been thinking!"

"Hey! It's not like it's my fault! I wasn't in control at the moment!"

"Kuso! The cards most have combined their magic power to force you to break the seal."

"And how exactly did they do that? I thought you was supposed to be the mighty seal beast and all that crap!" Ranma said, glaring at Kero suspiciously. The teddy bear creature sweet dropped nervously, "I kinda fell asleep. But not that it's important at this point. You have to recollect all 72 cards as soon as possible!"

"Me?"

"Who do you think I'm talking about? Whether or not you did it willingly or not, you still broke the seal, so you're the only person who can. And it's very important that you do it a soon as possible," Kero said, bringing himself up to his full height. Ranma shook her head, not really understanding, "Why? How come?"

"Right now they are only intent on causing some mischief after being cooped up for so long. But after they've had their fun it won't take them long to wreck havoc on the entire world. They aren't inherently bad, it's just that without a master to direct them they get easily confused."

"So the fate of the world rests in my hands, huh?"

"Precisely," Kero said, thinking that would convince her. After all most people could only wish that they could go on an adventure. "I'm not interested. Sorry, but I've been there already and done that, too."

"Say what? But…"

"There's nothing you can say or do that can change my mind, Kero-baka."

"Hey!"

"Now if you'll excuse me I think I'll got take a nice, long, hot bath. I think I've had enough with being a girl for one day," Ranma said, closing the argument once and for all. And so she changed into a spare set of boxers and t-shirt and left for the restroom, leaving Kero to try to puzzle out what Ranma meant by what she had said; and for some strange reason he had a sudden feeling of foreboding.

Thirty minutes latter there was the sound of running footsteps. Ranma burst into the bedroom, wearing only a towel. She grasped Kero and shouted at him, "Okay, how'd it happen and how do you reverse it!"

"I-I do not know what you're talking about!" Kero gasped, trying just to breathe. "My curse is locked! And you better unlock it, and I mean _right now!_"

"I still don't know what you are talking about!"

Ranm took a deep breath and counted to ten, took another deep breath and counted to twenty. And than released Kero after realizing that it was not really his fault, after all he could not have possibly known. After taking some more deep breathes she explained the nature of her curse.

"So you're really a guy…"

"That's right."

"…Who changes into a girl…"

"Uh-huh."

"I think I know what happened. The moment you broke the seal you were put under a contract, a magical contract. And the thing you have to know about magical contracts is that they are very specific."

"Okay, so how do you annul it?"

"You can't, not without forfeiting your soul at least. The only thing you can do is fulfill the contract, which is to go capture the cards and reseal them. All 72 of them."

"So, that's how it is."

"I'm afraid so."

Ranma nodded her head in defeat. "I guess there's nothing for it then. I'll do it then, but first… I need to know everything about the cards, everything."

"Okay it's like this…"

Three thousand years ago there was a kingdom that spanned the entire solar system and it was known as the moon kingdom. A woman by the name of Serenity ruled over this kingdom with peace and love… however the moon kingdom had many enemies that would like nothing more than to see the fall of the kingdom.

So special warriors were selected to defend the territories of the moon kingdom with one for each planet. All except for earth, though not for the lack of trying. Many warriors were selected during this time and many scientists tried and failed to bind them to the earth. And then it fell to a man named Clow Reed to try.

After several years he succeeded. By imbuing some tarot cards with earth spirits and crafting a henshin rod to access their powers he managed to create the possibility for a Sailor Earth. As he search for a warrior worthy of senshi powers, Queen Beryl attacked the moon kingdom and decimated it. Knowing that the moon kingdom would one day arise again Reed fled the destruction of the kingdom in order to protect the Clow Cards and the henshin rod.

"And that's how the story goes."

"Can I see the contract for a moment?"

Kero shrugged and then pulled out the contract from sub-space. Ranma took the magical contract and unrolled it. She studied it, but it refused to make sense to her, but that was to be expected. To bad Nabiki was not home after all, this was here area of expertise. But it was a rather explicit contract, as a matter of fact it even had…

"Kero is that…"

"You're measurements, that's right."

The contract _was_ that specific after all…

……………………………………

End Prologue

A/N: I suppose it'll be a week or so until I complete my next chapter. This isn't due to laziness but out of the fact that I know next to nothing about Cardcaptor Sakura. Right now I'm focusing on the first battle. Until then I think I leave you all with some bloopers and stuff…

Bloopers and Deleted scenes

Blooper1: Oh, what a haul.

Ranma opened the next two books, which turned out to be some cleverly disguised Playboys. "Oh, what a haul!" the girl exclaimed, planning on keeping the Playboys and discarding the rest.

Blooper2: I wonder?

Ranma opened the next two books, which turned out to be some cleverly disguised Playboys. The first image was one with two incredibly limber, naked girls entwined with each other. "I wonder if Akane would do that with me," she said, trying to stop her nose from bleeding.

Blooper3: Lost and found.

Ranma opened one of the other two books and it turned out to be a copy of Lost and Found, written by Law-kun. It wasn't finished, however. "Oi, how lazy of him. And that's my favorite Tenchi crossover too."

Blooper4: Stacked.

The contract didn't make a whole lot of sense to Ranma and she wished Nabiki was home since this was her area of expertise. But it seemed to be rather specific, like Kero said. It even had information that she was aware of.

"Hey, what's this?" Ranma asked, pointing to a part in the contract.

"I think that's your bust size."

"Wow, I'm seriously stacked!"

Deleted scene1: In Jurian.

The first book was an incredibly worn leather-bound book written in graceful, curving lettering that was almost but not quite unlike Japanese. Ranma was pretty sure she had never seen anything like it before and she was right, for the writing had not been seen on earth before. Be that as it may she could some how read the title, which read as follows:

'Sword Techniques of the Juria Royal Family.'

Deleted Scene 2: House call.

Ranma opened the door to Haposai's room, where the evil little troll was cackling over his latest haul. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, a mistake that would cost him victory today. The girl strolled right on in the room, making sure her nurse's outfit couldn't be missed. And indeed, she would put a stop to traffic. "Oh Haposai, it is time for your medicine," Ranma in a low, feminine voice.

Haposai stopped and faced Ranma. For a few minutes nothing seemed to happen, and then he fell over with blood gush out his nose.


	2. Chapter 1

Ranko, master of the Clow

A/N: Yeah, changed the title so it doesn't sound too much like Sailor Ranko (of which I am a long time fan). The Sailor Scouts make their appearance in this chapter and the timeline is after they found Makato/Jupiter, but before they found any of the others. I think this is the best place for me to get Ranma inserted.

On another note: I do not know who I'm going to wind up pairing Ranma with, though it is _probably_ (I just may do it anyway) not going to be with Akane. Not that I got anything against her, but it's just that there are already so many Ranma/Akane fics that I do not want to add to them just right now (maybe some other fic.) But since I am not in the habit of planning out to far in advance (I planed this story in three hours, total) I do not know who is going to pair up with Ranma (I just may pair her up with Usagi.)

Disclaimer: The list of things I don't own in this story could quite possibly be put in a book larger than the Sailor Moon series. I am not making any money off of this, which is a shame because I also do not have any money either.

What I do own is this story, which is (hopefully) better than Usagi's eating habits (or mine, for that matter.)

Chapter One-

After principal Kuno was committed to Tokyo General it fell to the vice-principal, Takahasi-sensei, to run the school. Though in all honesty it was her who ran the school back when Kuno was in charge anyway. The difference was that anytime she wanted to make changes she had to run it past him and anything that remotely made sense he would invariably turn it down. That was then.

Ever since then Takahasi made several changes around the school, it was she who disbanded the Hentai Horde; which turned out to be a school club founded by Tatewaki, who bullied all the members into joining in the first place. She also disbanded the Kendo club, which only ever had one member in it anyway. Then she allowed several clubs to form, such as the Martial Arts club, Magic club, Travel club, Cosplay club, Cooking club and the Manga club, just name a few. If one wanted to see a full listing of club activities they would need to go to the student government's new office, which been move from the broom closet.

She also updated the school uniforms and they now were of a British style involving button down shirts and ties. One other change involving uniforms: All students had to attend school wearing proper uniforms appropriate to their gender.

Ranma had went to appeal to Takahasi, explaining that her curse was temporarily locked and that she was really male. A week latter she was walking to school on the chain-linked fence, wearing the girl's uniform. She hadn't really expected to convince the new principal, but Ranma had to make the effort anyway. And she was especially careful to grouse about unfair it was, at least anytime Genma was in earshot. Otherwise she really didn't care.

On the card front there had been no activity in so far, but Ranma had the sneaking suspicion that there soon would be. Her family and teachers had asked was attending school as a girl and how come her curse was locked again. Telling a half-truth, she had said that a magician had locked it and Ranma was training to unlock her curse at the moment. She refused to say anything more anytime she was pressed for more details.

"Hey Ranchan!"

"Ohayo U-chan," Ranma said, greeting her oldest and best friend. Principal Takahasi had told Ranma that Ukyu would be wearing the female's school uniform as well, but it still didn't prepare her. Ukyu didn't look at all the same and if Ranma didn't recognize her friend's face she'd be tempted to say that it wasn't the same person.

"So you finally decided to attend school as a girl for a change?"

"No, my curse was locked again. Sorry for not telling you, it totally slipped my mind."

Don't worry about it. There was something I've been meaning to tell you as well," Ukyo said. And suddenly there was the sound of a bicycle bell ringing, so Ranma and Akane jumped down from the fence as Shampoo skidded along to a stop. If seeing Ukyo in the school dress caught her unaware than it was nothing compared to seeing Shampoo in one.

"You're going to school as well, Shampoo?" Akane asked, eyeing the Amazon carefully. She nodded, "Shampoo go to school. Think uniform look good on Shampoo, though not so good as on spatula-girl."

Shampoo jumped down and embraced the already blushing chief, "Ukyu look very kawai, no?" "I guess so," Akane admitted, smiling. Ranma shrugged and chose her next words very carefully, "I almost didn't recognize you, U-chan."

Luckily Akane didn't take offense, so they made it to school on time. Shampoo was introduced to class and the homeroom teacher made several announcements. During in the break in between homeroom and first period a few people asked why she was attending school as a female, but there weren't that many who commented on it. Classes went on without a hitch for a change and it was between classes that Ranma heard two of her classmates talking about it: "Did you hear?"

"About what?"

"There is this new gaming store opening in Juban, they're supposed to have this really big card selection." Ranma's ears perked up at this, though she suspected it was little to good to be true. So she got into the conversation, "Really? It sounds interesting."

"Are you thinking about getting into gaming?"

"Maybe… it sounds less painful than getting punched by Ryouga at any rate."

"Heh he, I guess that's true."

"I don't suppose either of you two happen to know where it is?"

"Of course it's over at…" said one of the guys, writing down the address and giving directions. Ranma stared at the piece of paper and thanked the boy absent mindedly, just knowing that this was not going to turn out anything worthwhile. But when it came down to it what did she have to lose?

Meanwhile, in Juban…

Usagi had just gotten wind of a rumor from a friend who heard it from a friend about the opening of a new gaming shop. It had just been a rumor but now she was really psyched about going there and checking it out. "Ami, did you hear about the game shop opening nearby?"

Ami, perhaps one of the least popular people in school, had not heard the rumor yet, "No, what about it?"

"It is a new store opening in town, it sounds like it'll be a fun place. Would you like to check it out with Makato and me?" Usagi asked. Ami frowned, even though she knew that she would be giving in to Usagi anyway. "I don't know, we really should be studying."

"All that studying isn't good for you, Ami. You need to get out once in a while and enjoy some time with your friends," Usagi pleaded with the blue haired genius. Ami could not help but smile, knowing that she had lost the moment she had set out against Usagi, "Okay, I'll come with you."

"Yatta!"

Ami laughed at Usagi's antics and came to the conclusion that perhaps the blonde was right. She could not study without rest; that would be unhealthy. 'Besides, Makato will be coming too,' she thought with a bit of a blush.

After school in Nerima…

School ended with no major disasters and Ranma walked home with Akane. They arrived at home and the red-haired girl went to her room to get changed into the clothes she would wear as a guy. Lately she had become so accustomed to dressing as a girl that she sorely tempted to tear off the clothes she was wearing so she could put on a dress, but it was important that everyone believe what she said.

"Hey, Kero."

"What is it?" Kero asked, waking up from a long nap. Ranma smiled, "I got a lead on the cards. Apparently there's a gaming store opening in Juuban."

"And you think they might have it?"

"Stranger things have happened."

"Alright, take me with you."

So Ranma put him in one of her pockets as she got her secret stash of money she saved from working as a waitress for Cologne. She went downstairs, where Nabiki was checking the mail, "Hey you going somewhere Saotome?"

"Yeah, I'm headed to find some information on unlocking my curse. I don't really expect to find anything, but hopefully it'll put me a step in the right direction," Ranma said, hoping Nabiki would accept it. "Okay, good luck then."

"Sure, I'll be back soon."

And with that she left for the bus stop and made it just in time to catch the bus. It was a lucky break because the next bus wouldn't have been for another two hours. So many people her own age were getting on that she didn't really stand out that much… neither did Nabiki, who was now following the girl.

Privately she found Ranma's explanation of how her curse got locked to be somewhat unsatisfactory. Nabiki would like to know just what Ranma was not telling and just how dangerous these unknown factors could be if she would not speak of them. So after Ranma had left she had decided to tail her. Nabiki brought her camera and video recorder as well that way she would not miss anything.

Because, knowing Ranma, whatever was going on was liable to be extremely strange. It was probably going to be something that, when she first sees it, would shock her too much for her to grasp it right away…

In Juuban; Usagi, Ami and Makato were just let out of school and made it to Domino Gaming, the new gaming shop. It was a decent sized store that had once been a restaurant a few years back. Now it was owned and operated by an elderly man who introduced himself as Grandpa Motto, his one employee was his grandson, Yugi.

There many people from the same school as the three girls, some were from different schools in the district and some were from school s in entirely different districts. Some of the customers were in elementary school, some were college students others still were probably old enough to be same age as Rei's grandfather. It seemed that word of Domino Gaming had reached every corner of Japan and reached the ears of gamers of every possible description. Grandpa Motto obviously knew how to advertise.

Ami and Makato were interested in the role-playing games, of which there were many. They held a small debate over the advantages of playing a mage or a fighter, respectfully (personally, I like playing the monk.) Usagi kept dragging the two girls over to the dating games, much to their embarrassment. She squealed when she saw that there was a manga selection but lost interest when she found out it was all shonen (which was a secret vice of Rei's), she liked manga but personally liked romances better.

And so it was that they left the store without buying anything, but they were planning to come back soon. And then Usagi spotted an ice cream parlor across the street, so they went inside. But it was so crowded inside that several parties had to sit together just to make room. Many of them were talking about the gaming shop. All and all they felt really quite lucky to have found a table.

Across the street Ranma went into the gaming store and immediately felt lost. It was the sere immensity of the selection that Domino Gaming had available. There were some very well known games such as Monopoly and AD&D. There were some other games that have weathered through the ages, like Go and Chess, and still others that were so new that they have not yet caught on, such as Duel Monsters.

And of course there was the card games themselves, the selection of which was so large it like there was a second store here devoted entirely to card games. So she sought out the storeowner, and after explaining that she looking for some cards he said, "So, you're looking for a specific card game?"

"Yes I am," Ranma said, then she described the cards the best she could from memory. Grandpa Motto took several minutes to think on that but he could not recall of ever hearing of playing cards like what Ranma was describing and he did not stock Tarot cards either. So going out on a limb, Ranma asked if Motto had any magic cards.

Her heart gave a great leap when he said yes and came down with a resounding crash when she found out that he meant Magic: The Gathering.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Ranma said, getting desperate. "The ones I'm looking for, they really _are_ magic."

"Oh? Do they perhaps grant wishes?"

I don't think so, but that's not why I'm looking for them," Ranma replied, hoping he would not ask why. He did not, instead he said, "It would help if I knew the name."

"They're called Clow cards. That's also the name of the man that made them."

"I think… that somehow I have heard of them before. I tell you what, I'll do some research for you. Leave your name and number and I'll call you if I find anything on what you are looking for." Ranma left him with the requested information with an appreciative wave to the old man.

Unfortunately she had only spent half an hour inside of the store, leaving her with more than hour left until the next buss arrived here. But what could she do for an hour? She was at a loss until she saw the ice cream store across the street. This was really quite fortunate on two levels.

The first was that Ranma tended to blend in easily inside ice cream parlors. She could not recall a single instance in which she was ever attacked at an ice cream parlor, which was highly unusual for the girl. Anywhere else and it sometimes seemed that people crawled right out of the woodwork to attack her. Anywhere else people tended to give her to much attention.

The second was the little known fact that Ranma had something of a sweet tooth as a girl. She loved candies of every variety, would probably erect a shrine in honor of chocolate, but her absolute favorite was ice cream. She would eat it by the gallon, by the tub or by the cone (supposing of course if the cone was big enough.)

Normally she would consider her sweet tooth something of a weakness and just a little embarrassing. But with so little to do until the bus arrived Ranma welcomed it. After purchasing a chocolate-covered sundae she began looking for a seat, but the only one that was available was at a table already occupied by three other girls.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Go on ahead," Makato said, motioning for her to get comfortable. As Ranma sat down Usagi said, "So you've been to the new gaming store yet?"

"Yes, and so has half of the people here by the looks of it."

"That is so true. We just came from there ourselves, we all live nearby."

"Is it always so lively or is it just whenever a game store opens?"

"Oh, you are so funny," Usagi said laughing. "Usagi, it isn't that funny," Makato said, though she was laughing as well. Ami gave a sigh, transfixed for just the barest of moments over how cute Makato looked when she laughed. Blushing slightly at that train of thought, she said, "It isn't always like this, though sometimes it gets like this on weekends and holidays."

"Is that right? I live in Nerima, and it doesn't get this crowded unless there is a fight going on somewhere. That happens a lot," Ranma said, heaving a sigh. The three girls exchanged glances and gave a short nod. "We were just talking about going to a movie, would you like to come with us?"

"But we don't even know each other," Ranma said. Usagi nodded and then introduced herself and her friends, "There, now we you know us. Will you go now?"

Ranma wanted to resist but all three girls were using the dreaded technique of the Puppy-Dog Eyes and she found her resolve weakening. _"Isn't this how my curse got locked in the first place?"_ she thought to herself. "I'll do it, just stop giving me those looks. My name is Ranma Saotome, it's nice to met you."

It had been decided and after they finished their ice cream they left the parlor for the direction of the theatre… however, it was not to be.

People were running in all directions, clearly panic stricken. They could see the reason why down the street for there were youma on the prowl. Just how many there were was uncertain. There seem to be a hundred of them and they were huge, hulking youma that appeared to be all muscle and teeth. They were slow moving but very strong and one of them tossed a car into a storefront down the road from it.

Worst yet was the fact that they were being lead on by one of Beryl's generals, Tetis. She was human looking like all the other generals were, but none of the generals were even remotely human. Like the youma they were dangerous in the extreme, and they were cunning to boot. The senshi had encountered her once before and it had been generally thought that she was dead.

But not only was she alive she had gone through a change and now she possessed a pair of feathery, black wings. They must have been a new acquisition because they seemed to barely have the power to keep her aloft. Normally Ranma would jump at the chance to fight the youma and the flying lady, but she did not want to drag the girls into a fight like this.

She turned around to drag them away from the danger zone, only to find that they had already disappeared. "Where'd they go?" Ranma asked, just a little confused. A series of explosions brought her attention back to the fight where three familiar looking girls in scandalous looking sailor fuku had joined them in a furious looking battle. They used a series of magical attacks that cut the youma forces down a little.

"The fools! They're walking right into a trap!" Ranma shouted, noticing just a moment to late to warn the girls. The youma closed in around the senshi, cutting them off from any chance of escape. The general began twirling her staff, producing violent winds that drove the senshi to their knees. At that the youma rushed converged on the nearly defenseless girls and Ranma finally realized why the youma were so heavy, because they would be less effected by the winds.

She ducked into an alley way and got Kero out, "Tell me there's a way for me to help them!" The stuffed animal nodded, saying, "You'll have to transform into a senshi."

"Alright, how do I do it?"

Kero curled up and began glowing, than he conjured a key that had the head of a bird. It fell into Ranma's hand and Kero said, "Take your henshin staff and say what comes naturally."

And as she grasped the key words came unbidden into her mind, "Key that holds the power of light reveal your true form, I command you under our contract! Release!" The key lengthened and became a quarterstaff with that bird head at the end of it, but Ranma was not through yet. She twirled it and said, "Earth, star power! Make up!"

She was than lifted into the air by an unseen force and her normal clothes vanished for a moment it was replaced by a differently colored sailor fuku similar to what the other girls wore. It was a body hugging white outfit with two black bows trimmed with silver. One bow was just underneath her breasts and the other was on the small of her back. The fuku itself match the color scheme of the bows and was far to short. She now had on elbow length white gloves and knee length, white, high-heeled boots. Her hair had become undone during the transformation and the only the only thing keeping her hair of her eyes was a silver tiara that a design of red roses.

Kero nodded in approval and just a little bit of shock, so this was Sailor Earth. She seemed rather uncomfortable in the sailor fuku and stated her displeasure in a very straightforward way, "Man, I can't go out like this!"

"You have to, Earth. Otherwise those girls will get seriously hurt."

Ranma frowned deeply and stared down at her newly acquired dress. Sure she had been getting used to dressing like a girl. Sure she was one of the founding members of the cosplay club. But what she usually wore was just a little more… more than this. Kero had a point, though, those girls could get hurt badly.

"Fine, I'm on my way!" she exclaimed before dashing on out to help the senshi. Nearby the alleyway Nabiki nearly collapsed, having seen, recorded, and photographed Ranma's transformation. So she knew. But it was had she suspected earlier, the shock was so much it just was not penetrating.

Meanwhile, the senshi were locked in a vicious battle that they were somehow able survive despite the fact that they were currently unable to move because the wind kept them on their knees. But they were surrounded on all sides by a wall of flesh, muscle and teeth, teeth, teeth and even more teeth.

The general flew overhead and directed the youma to take turns attacking, which meant that every time the senshi wounded a youma they would suddenly find themselves facing a fresh one, giving the youma time to heal.

All in all it was rather effective and it was wearing the senshi down quickly. One youma got past Jupiter's lightening attack and came up close and personal with Moon. Its mouth was gaping wide and its putrid breath assailed her. Moon cried out for what she was sure to be the last time, "Waaaaah!"

It suddenly reared back, blood oozing from its face as a rose imbedded itself in the asphalt. "Tuxedo Kamen!" Moon exclaimed, getting a dreamy look on her face. The enemies gave pause and seemed to part way for someone that most defiantly _not_ Tuxedo Kamen. It was a sailor senshi the three did not recognize, wearing a black fuku with silver trim, and Moon pouted, "That's not Tuxedo Kamen… but she's certainly cute though."

"A quiet evening is a rare treat for the wary, for you to disrupt it is a thing of evil. In the name of the moon I, Sailor Earth, shall punish you!" the girl exclaimed, pointing at the general. And she was suddenly in motion, brandishing a quarterstaff with a bird head at the end.

Before anybody could even blink several youma had meet their fate at Earth's hands and lied in their own lifeblood. Limbs went flying everywhere and the slow moving youma tried in vain to mount a defensive. The other senshi got to their feet and began to fight as well, trying to take out the general could bring the wind back.

Despite their losses though, the youma were not going down so easily, at least not without a fight. It was enough to keep the senshi, even Earth, from getting to Tetis. She finished her whirling summoning gestures and the wind came again. All the senshi except Earth were driven to their knees by the blast.

The only reason why Earth was not driven to her knees as well is that this was nothing compared to the winds generated by the Hiryu Shoten Ha, which gave her an idea. However the general Tetis was to far out of range to use as the catalyst for the attack and her winds were keeping the youma far to cool.

What she needed was a way to distract the general and get the youma to generate more heat. At that moment she got what she wished for when the several of the youma caught fire, victims of Mars' Fire Soul attack. Tetis stop generating the winds to allow Mars to get within range of the attack, which would not take very long at all. This did not give her much time to make her run but she felt confident that she could do it…

Moon was getting stressed out quickly, because even with the added help of the extra senshi she felt that perhaps they were done for. And when the youma caught on fire she felt the scales tip in their balance. Earth, for whatever reason, was circling around the youma in a clockwise spiraling motion and headed towards one of the burning youma.

Whatever the reason for it was her actions seemed to be distracting all the youma, leaving the general pretty much open. So Moon leapt to her feet, intending to do just that but she was dragged down by a girl she did not know.

"What are…"

"Stay down! Things are about to get bad!"

At that point Earth reached her target and finished up with a solid uppercut that probably would have broken the jaw of the youma… except it completely missed the youma. Moon was about to get back to her feet yet again to help the senshi because she had gotten surrounded when, true to the girl's word, things got bad.

From out of nowhere winds began whipping up and a twister touched down out of nowhere and grabbed up all the youma, none of which were ever seen again except maybe as minor impact craters. And then the twister seemed to look onto the general and began to grow in intensity and strength.

The winds were pretty bad now outside of the twister and had the girl not dragged her down she probably would have gotten blown away. And that was just outside the twister, she could not begin to imagine how bad it was inside of it…

It was extremely windy and very loud, just like Earth remembered it. She recalled briefly a movie made in America that was, ironically enough, called 'Twister'. Earth had seen that movie but the scenes shot from inside a twister somehow just did not do justice to the experience. It was a windy, noisy hell and it seemed to only get worse the moment it locked onto the general.

The twister was probably feeding off of the general now that the youma were gone and since she had more energy that the youma did it meant that the twister would be a 'F4', which could barely officially relocate your house. She had to finish this now, before the twister did even more damage to the shopping district.

Earth looked up and saw the general try uselessly to beat her wings against the strong winds; this did not surprise her really. What did surprise her were the two glowing rectangles on her chest. "She has two Clow cards!" Kero shouted needlessly, "You need to extract them and quickly!"

"How do I do that?" Earth asked, shouting to be overheard over the winds. But before Kero could reply he was blown off of her shoulders. "Kero!" she shouted, but he was gone. Though she need not have worried because it would turn out latter that Nabiki caught him outside before he could get injured.

"I guess I'm on my own then!"

So, following some unknown instinct she leapt up and rode the winds up to Tetis like she had done during the battle with Saffron. The general tried lashing out with her staff but she was panic-stricken so her attack was weak, ineffective, uncoordinated and easy to deflect. Earth did so, easily sending the staff flying.

"Cards created by Clow, return to the forms you are meant to be!"

And with that Earth touched her own staff onto Tetis's chest. The general began glowing and than her wings disappeared as two cards emerged from her chest. With no wings she was no longer able to fight the winds, no matter how ineffectively. Earth grasped the cards and saw that one was called the 'Windy'. Thinking that maybe she might be able to stop the twister she tossed the card in front of her, "Windy, quell this savage storm!"

The wings at the side of her staff became more elongated and Earth began twirling in a counter clockwise motion. To be completely honest she did not really expect Windy to be so powerful, based on how weak the winds were when Tetis used the card. Instead it was so powerful that the twister and the counter winds meet with explosive force that caused the twister to disipitate.

Tetis pulled herself out of the storefront she had crashed into and shook the glass out of her hair. "You… I'll kill you!" she shouted, shooting Earth a deadly glare as the senshi touched back down onto the ground. She charged forward, not bothering with any projectile attacks and Earth whirled her staff again, saying, "Windy, become a cutting wind!"

And there was a gale force wind that cut up and tossed about some cars that were still in the area and caused the girls' skirts to blow upward. Earth saw this and it caused her to lose her focus, so the winds stopped. She tried focus her attention on Tetis, only to find that winds had cut off her armor and uniform leaving her completely naked.

"I'm not going to forget this undignified moment and I _will_ pay you back for it!" and with that the general disappeared into thin air. The other three senshi regained their feet and began congratulating the new senshi and Mars finally joined the group, looking somewhat surprised at the events that had just transpired. Moon focused on Earth, intending to ask her some questions but police sirens cut her off.

"Well, it has been an interesting fight but I must be off. Sayonara." Earth grasped Nabiki around the waist and tapped the remaining card, saying, "Fly!" She gave the other girls a short bow and then flew high into the sky with Nabiki screaming, "Ahhhh! You better not drop me!"

End Chapter One

Author: I'm sorry that this took me so long; it's just that this chapter was much longer than I had anticipated. I guess I must endeavor to write shorter chapters or something… what do you guys think? Well, I'm going to get started on the next chapter soon, and I have no idea when I'll finish it. So… Sayonara.


	3. Chapter 2

Ranko, Master of the Clow

Now hiring full or part-time proofreaders for my story. No prior experience necessary, patience is a requirement. You will get paid… well, nothing really. But you get mentioned in my credits any way.

A/N: To be quite honest I'm surprised at the positive feedback I got on the story. I was expecting a flame or two, but I'm not going to complain. Anyway, some of you may have noticed that Nabiki has replaced Tomoyo already (those of you familiar with Cardcaptor Sakura), or maybe not. In any case characters from Ranma ½ have replaced most of the CCS characters. There is one exception: Kero. Any other characters I couldn't replace have summarily been dropped.

Kero, for the purposes of this story, does not transform at any time into anything.

Disclaimer: The list of things I do not own in this story would take up a file size big enough to crash the Matrix. Not only am I not making any money off of this but I have no money as well.

What I do own is this story, which is (hopefully) better than Keanue Reaves's acting abilities.

Chapter two

After getting away from the senshi and the police, Earth touched down in another part of the city and let Nabiki go. After she reverted back to her normal form (depending on one's opinion of normal) she walked with the girl to a bus stop a few blocks away. They sat there for a minutes, not really saying anything. "So," Nabiki said at last, "You're a sailor senshi now?"

Ranma sweet dropped, but did not reply because she did not really need to. "How'd it happen?" Nabiki asked, bringing out her camcorder.

"Hey, what's that for?"

"Yeah, if you are going to make a tape of anything than it should be of me."

The two girls stared at the little animal for a moment. He sweet dropped, "What, I always wanted to be in a movie." Nabiki nodded, "Okay, I'll get to you latter, but this is important."

Nabiki focused her camcorder on Ranma again, saying, "So, tell me everything."

"Well. It all started after the failed wedding. As you might recall my mother temporarily rescinded the engagement, Shampoo's claim on me expired and then she and Ukyo started dating. What you probably don't know is that the four of us started hanging out sometime after that and we began sparing with each other and learned some martial arts.

"After a while we ran out of things to learn and… let's just say that it fell to me to find more learning material. So while everyone was gone from the house I snuck into Happosai's room and took a few books, including a magically sealed book containing some cards made by a magician long ago, there were 72 of them and each contained an individual spirit with different powers."

And so Ranma spent the next few minutes going over how the spirit cards fled, Kero's awakening, the contract and just _how_ specific it was. "And so I'm a girl for good unless I find a way to gather all 72 cards and seal them again. Today I found out that Domino gaming was opening in Juuban and heard that they would have a large selection of cards available. They didn't have what I was looking for, but that lady did."

"You know something? You get yourself into some really strange fixes."

"That's too true," Ranma said, frowning. But then she smiled, "But I wouldn't have it any other way you know."

The bus came a few minutes latter and the girls got on after stowing Kero away in Nabiki's purse…

The palace was on a scale beyond imagining, with torrents a plenty. But it was hard to identify it as a palace for it looked more like a dungeon from another dimension, or some kind of surreal painting of the worst nightmare possible. But a palace is what it was and deep within the keep was, of course, the throne room. If one thought that perhaps the throne room would look any better than the outside of the palace than they would be sadly mistaken.

The sole source of lighting in the entire room came from a crystalline staff in front of the ruler of the palace and what little it did illuminate was like something out of H.R. Gigger's paintings with a stomach-churning mix of colors that did not blend well at all. And the woman sitting on the throne was not much better off. She was a woman of tall stature and ample assets, but she could hardly be called attractive, what with her sickly pale skin, unnaturally slanted red eyes and pointed ears.

Queen Beryl regarded Tetis, who stood stiff at attention before her in a new uniform, and said, "So, you are not as dead as I had believed. You know, your apparent death a month ago had cost me another servant? It is no big loss but I thought maybe you should know."

"No ma'am, I was not aware."

"I thought not, you were understandably engaged in your own scheme. And let me assure me had that plan not produced fruitful results you would share the same fate as Jedite," Beryl said, eliciting several gasps from the shadows, where the rest of her minions watched. Tetis did not visibly reply except to sweat drop as Beryl continued after a moment's pause, "So tell me, how did you mange to get so much energy for our great lord?"

"I have located the legendary Clow cards, milady. I was going to use them to destroy the sailor senshi when that insufferable Sailor Earth interfered," Tetis replied, going red with barely contained anger. This caused more murmuring amongst the crowd in the shadows.

"Sailor Earth, you say? So the senshi have a new ally, this is unacceptable, Tetis. You failed to destroy the senshi twice, you allowed them to gain a new ally and you fail to bring to me the Clow cards, most unacceptable, indeed. So, here's what I want you to do: bring me those cards, and if you should fail me than you will share Jedite's fate after all. Do I make myself clear?"

"Absolutely clear, ma'am!"

"Good, I'm glad there's no misunderstanding. Now leave my sight," Beryl said, dismissing the general. Tetis vanished and the Queen Beryl stood up, "Zoicite!" There was a flurry of cherry blossoms and within it appeared a man with long blonde hair, he was sitting in a semi-relaxed reclined position in the middle of the air, "Give me a status report on the rainbow crystals."

"I have so far found one rainbow crystal and have succeeded in retrieving it, but the monster it was imprisoned in was reverted to its human form by Sailor Moon."

"Unacceptable, the seven monsters are an irreplaceable asset to the dark kingdom… unlike you."

"I'm not too worried about it, once I identify all seven monsters I can gather them all and unleashed them combined in their true form. Let the senshi think they have won, but it is only a matter of time before their downfall."

…

The bus ride back to Nerima had been uneventful and since the bus was mostly empty Ranma took the opportunity to explain the connection between Clow Reed and the sailor senshi. "From what I understand of it," she said, "Clow was the top research magician of the Silver Millennium, during which the Moon Kingdom ruled much of this galaxy three thousand years ago. It was peaceful society but one that Earth was not a member of until the ruling members of both kingdoms decided to make an alliance.

"In order to make this as fair as possible the Moon Kingdom had to assign a senshi to Earth. But for some reason all the magicians working for them were unable to make a reliable link to Earth. But a magician living on Earth took on the task in secret and managed to succeed where everyone else failed." Ranma finished up the story just as the bus came into Nerima a few blocks away from the dojo. The red-haired girl leapt off of the bus as soon as it came to a stop (well, she could not very well do so while it was moving, could she?) and stretched out in a huge yawn, "Man, I'm so tired all of the sudden. I'm headed off to bed…"

And then came the single most unique battle cry in all of Nerima, "Dinner time!"

Ranma changed destinations, her stomach growling audibly. At dinner everyone stared at her as she attacked her meal with a greater ferocity then what she usually would. At least they would have stared at her except that she was hidden from view by several stacks of plates and had Genma been present he probably would have lost an arm had he tried stealing her food.

Luckily for him he was in a different section of town, so he would be allowed to keep his arm intact for now. After putting away so much food and helping to was the dishes (seeing how she made so many of them dirty) Ranma went on to bed, not even bothering to take off her clothes. Nabiki came inside her room and let Kero lose.

"I don't see how you can eat so much, I almost thought you might eat the table out from under us," Nabiki teased. However Ranma's only response was to snore loudly. "Out like a light," Nabiki sighed, "Say, Kero-chan? I don't suppose you know what's wrong with Ranma?"

"It's the magic of the Clow cards. It requires a source in order to active and it comes directly from Ranma's ki reserves. Until her body adjusts to the magic she'll need to conserve as much energy as possible." Nabiki snickered, causing Kero to give pause, "What? What's so funny?"

"She's always involved in one fight or another, so she'll be hard pressed to save energy."

"That could be a problem, there has to be some way to help her out."

"It shouldn't be too hard, about the only people in town that challenge her anymore is Ryouga. He spends most of his time hopelessly lost, so he's not a real big problem anyway. The rest shouldn't be to hard to take care of."

"Well, that should be fine then. In the mean while, do you think you can get me some dessert?"

"Come again?"

"Its just that Ranma usually brings me a small portion of dessert. So, unless you want to wake her up…"

"No, let her sleep," Nabiki said, staring at the sleeping girl. And it was hard not to stare at her too because she was so cute while sleeping. No, not cute… beautiful. She shuddered, wondering where _that_ line of thought came from… but still she took a couple of pictures of the sleeping girl to add to her 'personal' collection.

"Come on, let's get you some dessert."

And as soon as they left Ranma began to sweet and toss in her sleep…

It was a dark place but she recognized it as the school. But there was a strange silence permeating the air, it was not a hushed silence like at a museum or a library… it was more like an all-suppressing aura. On the other end of the hall a person appeared but Ranma could not make anything out beyond their silhouette so they really could have been anyone.

Twin balls of flame ignited just above their head as they made a gesture with their hands, which seemed to be occupied by a hammer and… a doll? But she did not have time to ponder it for their shadow shot forward, reaching for her.

Ranma tried retreating but the shadow already had a firm grip on her feet and was already beginning to swallow her up. She fought vainly to free herself, but she heard a familiar voice say "You can't escape you foul Saotome!" And the person began to laugh as the shadow began to consume her face.

The girl bolted awake, her clothes drenched it sweet. As she lay there, trying to catch her breath, she could still hear the laughter ringing in her ears…

Sailor Earth had been seen only once and for a handful of minutes… but it seemed that everyone was talking about her and trading pictures of her with each other although there were not that many available. There was a lot of excitement amongst the students who had been there when she had been fighting against Tetis.

"I think her fuku color was so cool…"

"The youma's reaction to the rose was so priceless…"

"…and then there was an explosion of wind…

"…I think the best part was when that lady's clothes got ripped apart."

"If it wasn't for all that fire I would have had a good look at her face…"

But little did they know the subject of the conversation was sitting in the middle of class with her face buried in her arms. She really wished they would talk about anything else because all the attention was too embarrassing. Ranma considered herself lucky that no one had recognized her or otherwise they would have a million embarrassing questions ready to spring on her.

Before class started Nabiki stuck her head into the classroom and beckoned Ranma over to her, "Hey, do you think you can meet me for lunch alone?"

"I think I can, is it important?"

"Very important… it has to do with 'you know who', so be sure to come by yourself."

"Got it, no problem."

As soon as Nabiki left Akane sidled on next to Ranma and frowned, "I hope you're not trying to seduce my sister you hentai."

"It's nothing like that. I just need to take care of some important business with her, tomboy."

"Takes one to know one."

Ranma winked at her and said, "I know I am, but at least I don't have a problem with it unlike a certain kawikune girl I know." The taller girl was about to respond when the homeroom bell rang. It was time to get to their assigned seats before they had to greet the teacher…

In another class in the same school, Gosunki was smiling at what he currently possessed. With it in his hands he knew he could defeat that foul Soatome once and for all and he'd finally be able to claim the fair Akane for his own. "Soon, I'll get that foul Saotome!" he said, laughing silently to himself. But his inner reflection was cut off when the teacher interrupted him by confisticating what he was holding.

"You know the rules, Gosunki-kun. You can collect this card after school as soon as you serve detention."

Gosunki mumbled to himself, cursing his poor luck. Oh well, he could just as easily get to Ranma after school. The girl would not know what hit her. It was a perfect plan, one that he would carry out without flaw…

Lunchtime came latter that day in Nerima; after all even with all its strangeness Nerima is not all that different from anywhere else. What was so different about today is that Ranma went to the rooftop, where she knew that Nabiki handled private matters. Nabiki was already waiting for her and so was Kero, who was flying about.

"We need to talk about the rumor mill, Soatome."

"Are you a mind reader or something, because I was just thinking that."

"I'm being serious here. Soon there's going to be a lot more talk about Sailor Earth and who everyone thinks she is. As is there are probably a few who suspect that you are she. There are even some who came to me for information on you whereabouts yesterday."

"What exactly did you tell them?"

"That you were in another part of the district hanging out with some friends when Sailor Earth fought those monsters. I had to sell some old pictures of you that I doctored just to convince them, which brings us to why I asked you here. I need for you to pose for some more pictures in case Sailor Earth shows up again that way I can deflect suspicion away from you."

"This isn't like you Nabiki, usually when I get involved in something you cause me no end of mischief, what are you up to now?"

"I'm so hurt, and here I was looking out for your well fare out of the kindness of my heart." Nabiki pouted cutely with large teary eyes, but it was apparent that Ranma wasn't buying it, "Okay, if you really must know then it's really for the well being of my family. If the fact you're Sailor Earth was known by everybody than your enemies could easily get a hold of that information to hurt those close to you just to get to you."

"And the fact that you're making a profit off of all this means nothing to you?"

"Hey, a girl's got to earn a living. Anyway I think maybe I should start with some pictures of you in the cosplay club, then I'll work my way from there," Nabiki said, grinning. Ranma blinked, "How is it that you know of the cosplay club?"

"It wasn't that hard, seeing how you're one of the founding members. It surprised me really; I didn't think you liked dressing up as a girl."

"I'll let you in on a little secret, I always have. I acted like I hated it so you 'normal' girls would try to force me into a dress or something," Ranma said grinning. "So are there any outfits in particular you want?"

Nabiki thought for a moment and said, "Goddess Washu, maybe Ryoko as well. And let me think…"

She began making a list of anime females that were popular, well known or just plain scantily clad. But the bell rang again, signaling the end of lunch. "Bring that list with you to the cosplay club, we're meeting at the end of school today," Ranma said, knowing that soon everyone would know about her being a member. She sighed deeply, _oh well_; she had been expecting it anyway…

Nabiki's list was growing more steadily with each passing moment until it was quite literally the length of her arm. But there was no way that Ranma could or even would pose in all those costumes, so she had to narrow down her selection quite a bit. So she began with the better-liked characters and by the afternoon break she had a far more reasonable list ready. But as she was finishing up a fellow student interrupted her. Nabiki recognized him almost immediately as the spooky kid, Gosunkogi, a high school freshman with a serious crush on her little sister.

"Nabiki-sempai, do you know where I might find Ranma at the end of school?"

Nabiki hesitated for a moment, thinking of the past history that Gosunkugi had with Ranma, which was not much. The first time he had gotten involved with Ranma he had uncovered the secret of the nekoken, Then Gosunkugi had found a mobile suit and tried to beat Ranma with it, and then he finally _did_ defeat Ranma when Happosai used the strength draining moxibustion technique on him.

What she knew about the spooky kid was not much, he was into voodoo, he was a photography otaku and his favorite model was Akane. He was weird, even by Nerima standards, but he did not really get involved with much of the weirdness around town. And he was probably the least likely of person to actually challenge Ranma, seeing how he did not have any giant robots backing him up this time.

"Well, that information will cost you a thousand yen."

The pale-faced boy gave her the money and she gave him the time and location for the next Cosplay Club meeting, thinking that it would not hurt anything since everyone would soon know anyway. "I'm going down there anyway, so how about I take you there?"

"That won't be necessary. I got detention anyway, so I'll have to get to him after then." He turned away from Nabiki, hiding a dark grin. Yeah, he get to Ranma soon enough…

"So, what did you and Nabiki talk about?" Akane asked in between the last two classes of the day. "You know you can trust me."

"Oh, you know, girl stuff."

"Oh, ha ha, that's a funny one. What did you two really talk about?"

"She wanted to take pictures at my next Cosplay Club meeting."

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"No, just the truth. Would you like to participate?"

Akane looked sincerely touched that she would even consider inviting her along. It was almost like Ranma did care for her, and she found herself wanting take the redhead up on her offer. "After all, you could use a different look," Ranma teased, causing her to frown.

"Ranma!" She short-tempered girl would have hit her except that the bell rang again. "This isn't over yet you pervert. Just you wait until after school."

"You sound like a comic book villain, did you know that?"

The rest of the school day passed without incident, of which Ranma was thankful for but really was suspicious of. After the last class, almost everyone filed out the school. They were all headed home or wherever it was that they went after the day was through.

Ranma and Akane, however, headed on to the theatre. It was there that the Cosplay Club was head quartered. There was not that many people there and most in attendance were female, Nabiki was there with her trusty camera and she had two people with her that Ranma had not expected.

"Shampoo, U-chan? What are you two doing here?"

"I'm surprised you have to ask, Ranchan. As your former fiancés it is our duty to investigate anything you're involved in and, if possible, participate."

"Shampoo just here to see cute spatula girl in too skimpy skirt."

"Shampoo!" Ukyo admonished, blushing violently. Shampoo shrugged, "What? It true."

"If that was what you wanted you could've just asked." Ukyo mumbled under her breath, but the other girls could see her smiling, "Alright, but you got to dress up too."

"Shampoo no mind, but maybe we should have pervert girl dress up too?"

"Where do you get off calling me pervert and what makes you think I want to?"

To the unobservant, or to anyone who had not been keeping track of current events, it might appear as though it was the beginning of a fight. But it was only playful banter, and it went on like this for a while until Akane gave in at long last.

It was the most fun meeting of the Cosplay Club yet, and with the presence of Nabiki's camera everyone went out of his or her way to pose. She tried to focus mainly on Ranma, but the others would not allow her to hog all attention. It was not such a bad thing, seeing how these pictures were sure to sell well, and also it would verify any cover story that Nabiki might try to create.

And when Akane decided to put on a Sailor Mercury outfit the other girls wanted to dress up as the senshi as well, so everyone got dressed up as a different senshi and did group shot after roping Ranma into dressing up as Sailor Earth.

"You know, I don't think we've ever had so much fun," said one of the attendees, laughing hard. One of the others nodded in agreement, saying, "You ought to bring you camera here more often, we could probably pay you to take pictures."

Nabiki shrugged, thinking of how much money she could potentially make with photographing club activities. It could even net her a better profit than selling pictures of Ranma or of the formally frequent fights that would still break out from time to time. 'Now, how come I haven't started doing this a lot sooner?' she thought to herself.

"Sure, but you should know that I charge by the hour." This caused everyone to break out in laughter, as the meeting drew to a close. "You guys go on without me, I have clean up duty," Ranma told her friends, waving them on.

"Sure thing, Ranchan. Catch up with us over at the ice cream store; it'll be my treat."

"Free ice cream!" was Ranma enthusiastic reply. Ukyo sighed, "Now I've gone and done it. Oh well, just be sure to hurry up."

"Free ice cream!" was Ranma's reply yet again, but Ukyo took it as an affirmative.

"How about you, Nabiki? You can come as well, provided you buy your own ice cream."

"How come? I thought we were friends though."

"I mean no offense, but I hear you have expensive tastes."

"That is so true… alright, I will join you as well. But first I have some unfinished business with Ranma."

Ukyo nodded and was about to respond when Shampoo interrupted, "Come on, Shampoo want ice cream."

"But you don't like ice cream that much."

"That true, but Shampoo like ice cream better when lick off of cute spatula girl's face."

And with that, the mentioned piece of Ukyo's anatomy became seriously inflamed, "Shampoo!" Akane looked like she had swallowed a bug, and said, "Why don't you two get a room!"

And so they left, bickering good-naturedly down the hallway. Nabiki giggled, "I think Ukyo is finding Shampoo to be a handful."

"Yeah, no kidding. So what did you need anyway?"

"Nothing important, just thought I would get a picture of you doing clean up."

Ranma shrugged, "Okay, if you say so." And with that she started to clean the room up, trying to ignore Nabiki's presence. She finished up in little over half an hour, using the promise of ice cream as a motivation to get the job done quickly. "I think I've just come up with a new martial arts style," she said as she put away all the cleaning supplies.

"What? Martial Arts Classroom Cleaning?"

"You forgot 'Anything Goes'."

"You trying to be a funny girl?"

"You know it."

Nibiki laughed, thinking back to a time that Ranma would deny anything having to do with being a girl. It was so much better this way, with Ranma just being herself instead of what her father wanted her to be. She seemed so much more carefree and alive now than at any time before when she acted like her father's idea of a man.

Maybe when she finally unlocked her curse again she would a far better man than any other. A man amongst men in the truest sense, which would be something to see. "I've been thinking, Saotome…"

"About what?"

"The senshi, the ones in Juuban. You could join them or enlist their aid or something."

"No way, it wouldn't be fair to expect them to help out some girl who will disappear completely from their lives once all of the cards are found. Besides, I may be a girl part of the time but it requires something more than merely being female to be a senshi anyway and I'm not so sure I have it," Ranma said as she finished putting away the cleaning supplies.

"What makes you say that?"

"You know about the stories, about what Kero told me. They were all royalty in a former life and yet they were so much more than that. Take a look at me; I barely got two yen to rub together and the clothes on my back. What do I bring to the table, the ability to fight? They can all fight themselves, I've seen them at it."

"I think you have more than what you know."

"I don't think so Nabiki, so I'm not going to them. That is my final decision."

"If you say so… hey let's catch up with the others, okay?"

"Free ice cream!" Ranma cheered, perking up instantly. When ice cream was involved it was unwise to underestimate just energetic she could get, Nabiki realized. They entered the deserted halls, dimly lit because most of the lights had already been turned off. It was silent, almost unnaturally so.

"Damn, I almost forgot just how spooky it could get after school…" Nabiki said, almost whispering. But Ranma did not reply except to look around nervously. "Saotome? Is there something wrong?"

"I'm getting that feeling of déjà vu…"

"Say what?" Nabiki asked, just before the rest of the lights went out. The hallway was not pitch black, but that was only because of the daylight streaming in through the windows. And at the other end of the hall was a shadowy figure. The person could have been anyone, really, for they were hard to make out in the shadows. On both sides of their head a ball of flame lit up as they began to cackle… or at the very least attempted to cackle, for it sounded more like a wheezing cough.

Ranma and Nabiki sweet dropped as this went on for a few minutes. Eventually they stopped trying to cackle and spoke up. "You foul Saotome… You foul Saotome…" the boy said… and kept on repeating it. About a minute after the boy continued ranting on Ranma said, "You know, I'd almost think he has some beef with me. And I think his voice sounds kind of familiar."

"It's Gosunkogi…" Nabiki sighed, hiding her face in her left hand. She was not embarrassed by Ranma's statement. After all, the spooky kid tended to be easily forgotten. What she _was_ embarrassed by was the fact that she herself underestimated the boy when normally she was a good judge of character. She did not have long to ponder it for Ranma pushed her back into the theatre.

The girl made a vertical leap but was snatched out of the air by something shadowy. The shadow creature was feminine looking, and Ranma was caught up in her long hair; which were like long tentacles. "L-let me go!" Ranma demanded. But the shadow did not reply, except to blink her red eyes.

"Bwa ha ha ha! Now it is time for you to disappear completely off the face of the earth! And then… and then Akane will be all mine!" Gosunkogi said, laughing maniacally. Ranma scowled over Shadowy's shoulder at the kid, "Damn it, what is it with you guys and trying to possess others? Haven't you ever stopped to consider _her_ feelings?"

There was a moment of silence and then he answered, "I don't care so long as I'm happy, what else would matter? Shadowy, dispose of her." Shadowy began to melt into the floor while Ranma struggled in vein against the hold of Shadowy's hair. Soon the girl herself was beginning to sink into the floor and quickly only her face was still free.

"Kuso!" she swore, trying harder to break free. That was when her hensin key floated free of her shirt and began emitting a brilliant light that caused Shadowy to screech in pain. Ranma found herself on solid ground again, short of breath. But she did not have time to wait to recover for she also did not know just how long Shadowy would be stunned. She grabbed the hensin key and held it over her forehead, "Key that holds the power of light reveal your true form, under our contract I command you! Release!"

There was another flash of light and the key was suddenly a staff with a bird head at one end, Ranma twirled over her head and around until it was in front of her, "Earth, star power! Make up!" And with a blinding flash she was Sailor Earth again. "You only worry about your own happiness, never caring who gets hurt in the process. Your selfishness is wrong and in the name of the Earth I'll punish you!" Earth said striking a pose with a rose in her grasp.

"You really think that transforming will help you?" Gosunkogi said, motioning with hammer in one hand and voodoo doll in the other. The doll was glowing from within to Earth's eyes from the presence of the Clow card and it began to emit shadows that covered the kid until he was just a shadow himself. His transformation caused Shadowy to vanish and the boy was now a towering figure wreathed in shadows and veiled in a cloak that just almost hid his red eyes. "You foul Saotome, you should have just accepted your death in good grace!"

Earth just smirked, which infuriated Shadow Gosunkogi. "What do you find so amusing?" he demanded, snarling. The sailor senshi did not answer except to throw the rose like a kunai knife, which imbedded itself into Shadow Gosunkogi's hand. The doll fell onto the floor and Earth dashed quickly to it with her staff outstretched, "Card created by Clow, return to the form you meant to be! Shadowy!"

The doll stopped glowing as the card appeared in Earth's hand, but Shadow Gosunkogi merely laughed at her, "Go ahead and take the card! I don't need it anymore!" The Shadowy card began glowing on its own and began sucking tendrils of shadow from Gosunkogi, "Nani? What the hell?" He tried to get away but he did not make two steps before Shadowy was done and the boy fainted…

A few minutes later he woke up to the concerned faces of Ranma and Nabiki. "Hey, are you alright?" Ranma asked. Gosunkogi shook his head, trying to reorient himself, "I'm not sure… what happened?

"You mean you don't remember?" Ranma said, frowning. The boy shook his head again, confused. "You said you were going down to photograph Akane at the cosplay club. You must have fainted in the hallway on the way because we just found you here," Nabiki said to the boy, hoping he would buy it.

"Did I at least get some good pictures?" Gosunkogi asked, apparently having bought the story.

"No, you just missed the end of the club. But I tell you what; I took some great photos myself. You can have first dibs when I start selling them tomorrow. Deal?"

"That will be fine," Gosunkogi replied, regaining his feet. "I guess I will be seeing you tomorrow then."

After he was gone, the two girls heaved a heavy sigh. "Man, what a lucky break." Ranma sighed and Nabiki nodded in agreement. "Well, let's catch up with the others, okay?" Nabiki said. Ranma immediately perked up at this, "Free ice cream!"

….

End chapter two…

Man, I hate working on public computers! I absolutely hate it! (Sigh) Oh well, at least I'll be getting my own computer soon. And then I'll be able to update my chapters quicker, till the (or until next time) Ja ne!


	4. Chapter 3

Ranko, master of the Clow

Ryouga does not replace Li (but I have not forgotten either of those two).

All right, time for my usual unusual disclaimer…

There are many things that are a part of the story that I do not own, the full list is longer than Dumbledore's full name, not only do I not own them but I am not making any money off of this. What I do own is this story, which is (hopefully) better than Neville's potion grade.

Chapter three

_Ranma was sinking through the floor, bound helplessly by Shadowy's hair. She grunted as she tried to escape in vain. Gosunkugi's laughter could be heard as now even her head began to be pull under. "Kuso!" Ranma swore. Somehow her key became free of her shirt and began to emit a bright light that caused Shadowy to screech in pain…_

Kero-chan hit the pause button on the remote and thought for a moment. "After you defeated this Gosukugi kid he couldn't remember anything?" He asked, frowning. Ranma and Nabiki nodded in unison, which caused the small animal to frown more deeply, "I'm sorry guys, but I just can't think of anything relevant right now. Before now I haven't known of anyone to actually use a Clow card. Maybe the memory loss is normal, but if so why haven't you and General Tetis been affected in the same way?"

"I don't know, maybe it doesn't affect me because I'm protected by the contract. And the general probably was protected in some similar way."

"You could be right, Ranma. There is one thing I know for certain…"

"Oh? What's that?" Nabiki asked as she popped out the videotape. Kero struck a pose, his eyes tearing up, "You still haven't taped me."

"How'd I see that one coming?" Ranma asked, sweat dropping. Nabiki nodded in agreement, "You know, I was kind of expecting that as well. But I tell you what; I'll make a tape of you right now."

Kero-chan cheered at this, causing Ranma to sigh, "It must be nice to have such simple concerns." "What do you mean?" Kero asked, concerned. Ranma groaned, "Today we had a math test…"

"That doesn't sound so bad, Saotome. I thought you were doing better academically."

"I _am_, but I sill hate math… it ought to be outlawed or something."

"What about you Nabiki, how was your day?"

"Profitable, very profitable; all the pictures I took at the cosplay club sold out, though I managed to keep some copies for myself."

"You really ought to share some of those profits with the club, we could use more outfits," Ranma said, crossing her arms under her breasts. Nabiki sweat dropped, "Ah come on, at least I give you guys free advertising."

"Can I see the pictures?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Nabiki replied, getting out a little album she put together before returning home that day. She laid it out on the floor and opened it up to the first page for Kero-chan. The first page had pictures of Nabiki, whom had been somehow shanghaied into dressing up as well. In the pictures she was dressed up as Yura of the Hair, from _Inuyasha_. She had on a one-piece, black leotard with a low cut that showed a surprising amount of her generous cleavage. Tied around her waist was a yellow sash, her hands were covered with fingerless gloves and feet were covered with black socks that left the toes bare. On her face around her eyes was purple makeup.

She was posing in a few of the pictures with Ranma, who was dressed up in a black dress that left absolutely nothing to imagination. "I'm not so sure I recognize that character," Kero-chan said. Ranma shrugged and said, "That's Raneko, from _Sunshine Temple._"

"I think I've heard of her."

"Yeah, but check out these pictures," Nabiki said, flipping to the next page. There was a series pictures with Shampoo dressed up as Ayeka from _Tenchi Muyo_. It was so unusual to see her looking so meek and calm. Her long, purple hair had been taken from its usual odango style and was pulled back in a very prim and proper looking twin-ponytail. She was wearing a deep purple kimono with black obi.

With her was Ukyo, who was dressed as Ryoko. She had on a silver wig that had been styled into a spiky look, and the bangs came so low that they touched her breasts. She had on a blue dress with yellow stripes on the arm length sleeves and the floor length skirt. There was also a few pictures of Akane, who was dressed as Mohomoro from _Mohoromatic_, and she looked so cute in the maid outfit she was wearing too.

There were various other pictures, including the actual meeting. There was a shot of Ranma dressed up as grown up Washu, she was standing in front of a projector screen pointing out the Nerima Convention Centre, which would soon host a local Anime Fan Convention. There were still more pictures, and Nabiki was flipping through them for something interesting to show Kero-chan, but someone was knocking at the door.

"Nabiki are you in here?"

Nabiki put Kero on her bed and motioned for him stay still. After that she said, "Yes Kasumi, I'm here!" The older girl poked her head through the door, smiling.

"I'm about to head on out for lunch and was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

"No, we got our own plans," Nabiki said, shaking her head.

"Okay, but don't stay inside all day though… and try to behave yourselves," she added with a wink. She left, giggling as she went. Ranma looked confused for a moment before asking, " What did she mean by 'behave yourselves'?"

Nabiki giggled loudly, "You can be so clueless sometimes, Saotome."

"Well, whatever. So what are our plans anyway?"

"Nothing special, we're just going to a meeting at Uchan's."

"Isn't that the cook you guys are always talking about?"

"That's right Kero-chan. She's one of the very best cooks I know." Ranma exclaimed, beaming at the thought being able to eat some of her cooking. Kero grinned widely, "Could bring something back with you?"

The girls nodded in reply, intending to back some of Ukyo's famous sweat okonomiyaki for him, seeing how Kero-chan seemed to enjoy sweats beyond all else. Nabiki smirked, thinking that the strange creature was the perfect companion for Ranma. The red headed girl had a sweat tooth as well and between the two of them they could probably put a huge dent in the world's chocolate supply.

The thought actually brought a genuine smile to her lips. "Quit staring off, Nabs. Lets get over there right away!" Ranma exclaimed, pulling on Nabiki's arm in her excitement. Nabiki decided let the 'Nabs' comment to slip by unchallenged for now, it gave her a good feeling to be called that at times by a friend…

An hour latter at Uchan's a meeting was taking place was taking place in the top floor of the restaurant. Attending were Ranma and Akane, along with Shampoo and Ukoyu. Standing in front of them was Nabiki. She was currently an old army uniform, including a steel helmet; Nabiki had even procured a chocolate cigar, which she had clamped between her teeth. "Nabiki, what are we doing here?" Akane asked tentively, not sure of what to make of this situation.

"I will get to that in a moment, please be patient," Nabiki said sternly, taking a 'pull' from the cigar. It was more like taking nip out of it, though. "Some of you may be wondering why I called this meeting into place," she continued, causing the others to sweet drop slightly, "It is this!"

She pointed to the map of Japan, which did not clarify matters in the least. "All over the country, young people our age are spending their last free weekend of summer having fun in the sun. It is a completely unacceptable outrage if we do not participate!" Nabiki exclaimed, going into a pose that could loosely be described as heroic.

For a moment there was no response, and then Ranma said, "I think I was actually moved by that."

The others nodded in agreement. And so it was decided that they would go to the public pool…

Meanwhile in a less sunny dimension, Tetis was decidedly not in a good mood. This was not really surprising since she never was unless she was giving pain to someone else by whipping, scratching, or cutting him or her. Really, she was a borderline psychopathic masochist and she had a certain red-haired someone in mind that she wanted to whip, scratch, or cut. The humiliation of her defeat she would visit ten-fold upon Sailor Earth in the most graphically explicit way imaginable.

First she had collect the Clow cards in order to avenge the only man she ever wanted to whip, scratch and cut in bed; that and to avoid a fate similar to his. That not-so-vague threat that Queen Beryl made of being put into a nightmare dimension was a compelling motive to do as she said… for now.

But she knew the power that Clow Reed had wrought could dwarf the power that even Queen Beryl wielded, who was unworthy of being a ruler anyway. She would displace her than use the awesome power of Metellia to pull Jedite out of the nightmare dimension, then she would rule over all of reality unopposed. First she had to find and capture the cards _before_ Sailor Earth, which would be easy because she could scry for them since she knew their energy signature.

And so she poured a pitcher of water into a large silver bowl. Gazing into the bowl she cast her scrying spell, where she got an immediate hit on the location of an active Clow card. It was at a public pool in Nerima, which made her frown in distaste. Humans were such loathsome creatures in her opinion, and she planed to wipe them from the face of the Earth at her earliest convenience.

Maybe she could have a little fun with these particular humans to help alleviate her stress, and then she would take the Clow card hidden there. Then she would be one more step closer…

The group was headed for the Nerima Public Pool after everyone fetched their bathing suits and Nabiki, thankfully, had ditched the military outfit. All in all it was a beautiful spring day, though somewhat hot. Ukyo was walking hand-in-hand with Shampoo and talking to Ranma who was walking along side them. "You seem to be taking being stuck as a girl very well, Sugar. I thought you hated being a girl."

The red head girl looked at her curiously, "What made you bring that up?"

"Well, it's just something I've been wandering for a while ever sense that wizard sealed up your transformation. Though come to think of it seems you've been well-adjusted to it for longer."

"Well, my mother has been giving me training ever since summer started, you know that," Ranma replied inelegantly. But Ukkyo was not so easy to brush off as that and said, "No, it goes back further than that. Come to think of it I never have seen you complain about it."

Akane nodded and Nabiki said, "Like when Cologne used the Cat-Tongue on you, you were in your female form for so long that you menstruated. You griped a little, to be sure, but you carried on."

"Okay, you got me," Ranma replied, knowing when she was beat. She took a few minutes to stare in the distance as she composed her thoughts. "When I first got this… condition I really, truly despised it. The dislike was based on my father's constant diatribes about the fairer sex and so I began to hate being female. In fact it reached to a point that I contemplated suicide."

There were gasps from the other girls, but Ranma continued, "It was when I was actually standing on a cliff, on the very edge, that I came to think that I wanted to live. I grasped on the hope that a cure might be found. It was a vain hope and it was quickly dashed at the Amazon village where I found that there were no cures to be found. But I was more open to learn that it was not so terrible to be female."

There was silence for a moment and then a thought seemed to occur to Ranma. "Say, won't Shampoo turn into a cat?" she asked, obviously disturbed at the thought of it. Shampoo broke into a grin and brought out a bar of soap, a familiar looking bar of soap that didn't have the brand maker on it. It was rectangular and had a strong smell that Ranma could smell from where she was standing.

Of course, it was waterproofed soap. With it Shampoo could prevent herself from changing into a cat… at least temporarily. "Great-grandmother let Shampoo borrow soap when told that Shampoo going to pool." Shampoo supplied, although it was unnecessary.

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief, glad she would not have to go into the Neko-ken. They soon came to the public pool, where they heard a lot of laughter and shrieks. Apparently they were not the only ones to think of this idea, however it was not so many people there as to be overly crowded. Nabiki paid at the front to let the group in, showing a generous side rarely ever seen. Or at least Ranma thought so until the person gave her a coupon for free ice cream.

She glared at Nabiki as if she were an evil toad. Nabiki only stuck her tongue out at Ranma who could not help but laugh. The girls all went into the changing rooms and came out shortly after putting on their bathing suits, though Shampoo had to take a little longer due to her having to apply some of the water proof soap on herself. Meanwhile Ukyo and Nabiki happily padded on over to the diving boards while Ranma helped Akane ino the shallow end, since her confidence of swimming was still not very great and so she tended to sink. At that moment Shampoo charged out of the changing room, wearing a purple two piece bathing suit. The purple haired leapt clear over the two swiming girls splashed down with a canonball. Ranma and Akane shrieked in laughter as the mini tidal wave washed over them.

Shampoo surfaced up but was immediately dunked by by Ukyo, who some how snuck up behind her. This quickly turned into a splashing contest between the girls, and they got into earnestly. Laughing, Ranma froze as chilled wind seem to creep up her spine. She whirled to face the deep end of the pool only to see a monsterous hole open above the waters. It was black to the point of absorbing all surrounding light and parts of the darkness was dripping out both up and down in a very disturbing way.

It was surprising at how many people just stared up at it, in Ranma's oppinion, though some sensibly began leaving the area. It was when youma begain pouring out of the hole that people began truly moving. Mostly the youma landed in the water and they were all humanoid creatures that appeared to have the body of a woman, the head of a predetory fish, the skin of a reptile and the tail of a serpent. Ranma cursed under her breath, wondering what they were doing at the pool of all places... and then she felt rather saw the glow behind her. She whirled about again and sure enough she could see a glowing card floating just beneath the surface. 'What the heck? It wasn't there before!' was her first thought, then she grasped at it but she was restrained along with the other girls by the youmas, which were a whole lot stronger than they looked. They did not seem to be after her specifically as they began snatching up people randomly from the pool. Looking out of the fence enclosing the pool Ranma could see people running from the scene unfolding at the pool and it was reminesent of a Godzilla film.

Then the woman descended from the hole as well, but she descended in a more controled manner than the youma did. One of the the youma came over to Tetis, presenting the Clow card to her. Taking it within herself the cruel human looking woman began laughing as the power activated. The laughter was devoid of warmth and full of harsness and it trailed off as she looked at her prey, which included Ranma as well. With the stare that Tetis leveled at her Ranma almost thought that she was recognized until the general began sharing the exact same stare with everyone else.

"You should all be glad that your deaths will be swift, had I the time I would draw out your deaths as vermin like you deserve!" Tetis exclaimed, causing some of the people in the captive crowd to weep in fear. But Ranma wasn't affraid, neither were her friends. Tetis stared down her nose at the girl as if seeing a lower lifeform, "I don't like that look, girl," she said, pointing at her. The card she had collected glowed in her body with a light Ranma was certain only she could see. The water became violent as a storm tossed sea and several long arms shot out, grabing Ranma and binding her. She was lifted off of her feet until she was brought face to face with the taller woman. "Lets see if I can beat some humility into you now."

With a motion of her hand Tetis sent the strugling Ranma high into the air and for one moment held her there. Ranma was slamed into ground, hard, and again and again. The fifth time the general paused to admire her work. Ranma was still mostly in one piece, but not unharmed; she was concsious, but unable to strugle she hurt so much. Tetis laughed again in that insane way of hers and prepared to smash the girl again when a whiring sound came from a distance. Instinctively, she ducked with just barely enough time to avoid getting beheaded by some flying yellow blur.

Whirling about she found herself facing a young man who came through a whole in the fence that he apparently made himself; he was wearing dusty clothes and an enormous backpack, over his brow he wore a yellow bandana. He was wielding an enormous umbrella in one hand and another bandana in the other, which he whirling in the same high speed he threw the other. It was Ryouga, and he stared unflinchingly at Tetis. Leveling his umbrella at her, he made his intentions clear. "Let her go now, winch!"

"Oh, you should really be more careful how you phrase your demands young man." Tetis replied, lifting up her arms high and throwing Ranma into the now deserted dressing rooms with enough force to tople the building over.

"Why... you!"

Ryouga lauchned himself at the deranged youma general, screeming as he did so...

Ranma was drifting inside a great emptiness towards an expanse of light that resonated, calling to her. Seeing it, she wanted to go to it to live in it. She ran, trying to get to it. But she was stoped in her tracks by a man who appeared before her. He was tall by any standard and had dark hair, with small glasses over his eyes. The man wore a splended cloak and mantle that obscured his body and wielded a staff that looked not unlike the staff that Ranma herself used as Sailor Earth.

This was, without a doubt, Clow Reed. "Go back young one, it is not yet your time and you are needed still."

"But I am hurt badly, I am dying. And I don't have the key on me."

Clow Reed beckoned her over, which she did. He then embraced the girl, letting her cry. "I know it is hard, I know you would like nothing more than to move forward so you can be at peace. But people you care about are in danger. They need you. The person who you are not aware that you love will die most painfully. She needs you. People who you not know, and will come to know in the fullnes of time will need you as well. Please turn back now and embrace your destiny."

"M-my destiny?"

"Of course. It was not the power of the Clow Cards that beckoned you, or chose you, or forced you to enter the contract. It was within you to be the sensei of Earth since the day of your birth. The hensien key is part of you now and you can never be seperated from it. All you must do know is feel for it and call it and it will come. Or did it not occur to you after you beat the kid?"

"You know about that?"

"I know far more than that. I know your past, how you came to be a girl and even what decision you will make now but I must still give you the choice. Go back or go forward. But know that no matter which decision you make it is yours alone and that it can't be undone." With that said, Clow Reed steped aside for Ranma. There, in front of her, was the light. It was brilliant, warm and inviting. And yet... and yet she knew what would happen if she decided to go down that path. To herself, to her friends. Turning back resolutely, she was not surprised to see herself, only she was buried alive and injured. She steped forward, into herself.

Clow Reed was now by himself. He smiled gentally as the image of his young charge faded. "Feel satisfied?" a voice beside him said. It came from a tall woman who appeared there suddenly. She wore a seifuku, and its primary color was black, like Ranma's. Her hair, however, was long and green. She too had a staff, though it looked decidedly different. "No, Setsuna. More like content."

...

Ranma came to, surrouded in darkness by building materials. She was hurt badly, she could feel it. If she didn't start healing soon she'd be in mortal danger, but she could not focus on that just yet. Though it was muted she could hear the sounds of fighting outside. _'Must be Ryouga.'_ she thought, ignoring her pain as she imagined her long time friend/rival fighting the general. He had no idea what sort of being he was facing; if the batle went badly for Tetis, Ranma had no doubt she would put her hostages at risk to stop Ryouga. So putting all her effort into it she felt for the key and called out to it, like Clow Reed told her to.

There was a weird tingling sensation as a ball of light appeared in her hand and formed her key. Wasting no time she activated the key and transformed. For the next couple of minutes she lay there, letting herself heal by the power of the transformation. She than gathered her strength to make her move...

To say that Tetis had underestimated her opponent would be a gross understatement. She had thought to destroy Ryouga in one blow, but he was fast on his feet; dodging her strong attacks and launching several bandanas at her rapidly. They were seemingly without end and fast, forcing her to devote all her energies into forming a water barrier and sending what youmas she could spare to attack. The wave of youma she sent would have been enough to cow any lesser being. Ryouga, however, simply plowed through them being no light weight himself. He charged at the youma general again, weilding his umbrella like a lance.

Reacting quickly, Tetis dispersed her barrier to form several arms and grabed some hostages at random from the crowd, one of which just happened to be Akane. Predictibly this forced Ryouga to stop dead in his tracks, he was not going to go through innocent people in order to get to Tetis. She sneared at him for a moment. "Such foolish creatures are you, your sentalmentality will get your race anihlated one day." And than she started to gather energy in her hand, and a moment stretched out into an eternity as she was about to sound his death toll when she suddenly screemed in pain. A rose had been thrown at her with such astonishing force and speed that it seemed grow out of her hand. Weather because she had spent too much energy or because she had lost her focus, the arms dissipated, letting the hostages free.

"Hold it right there!" commanded a feminine voice. It was Sailor Earth and she was standing on the fence, her miniskirt flaring in a sudden breeze. She leveled her bird headed staff at Tetis. She leaped off the fence and came up beside Ryouga, but anything she was about to say was cut off by Tetis. "I'm not about to stand here and trade blows with you today, so you can play with my pets instead. So long!" All her youma were spured into action and abandoned the hostages as they attacked Sailor Earth and Ryouga in one huge wave. But they were not alone; Ukyo, Shampoo and Akane stood beside them to fight as well while Nabiki helped keep the rest of the former hostages moving to safety.

With the combined might of the four fighters, the youma were dispatched in sort order... but it was to late. Tetis had escaped...

After the pool area was evacuated of everyone except for Sailor Earth and her unknowing friends. "Its to bad that Tetis got away, but at least no one is hurt." Earth said, staring off to the distance.

"What about you Ranma?"

"I'll be..." Earth started and than halted. It was not Nabiki who asked the question, it was Ryouga. "Err, is that the name of your freind? Cause I pulled her out from the ruble and..."

"Who do think you're fooling sugar?"

"Yeah Ranma, and how come you didn't tell us about this before?"

Earth was a bit taken aback by all this until she figured that maybe the jumped to a conclusion that they really shouldn't have. So she composed herself and tried to come up with something convincing but Nabiki stoped her short. "I think you should stop while you're ahead Saotome, I don't think they'll buy it."

"Especially with Airen fidgeting with beautifull hair like she would with her pigtail." Shampoo chiped in helpfully.

Earth eeked loudly as she jerked her hand away from her hair as if it was suddenly eltrocuted. And then sighed, hanging her head. "Great now I'm gonna have to explain it all, don't I?"

"Damn straight sugar."

-End Chapter Three-

Thank you one and all for reading the story all and hanging in there for me. I would also like to take a moment to thank my readers. Seriously, ya'll are lifesavers. Sorry for the really slow update, but in between deaths in the familly, moving and computer viruses its a wonder I've been able to write at all. Hope ya'll like the story, and be sure to review if you would please.


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